Not the only study by the way. I have read others but they were some time ago. “The research shows how coloured glasses tuned to each migraine sufferer work by normalizing activity in the brain. The researchers saw specific abnormal brain activity (known as hyperactivation) when migraine sufferers saw intense patterns. The tinted lenses considerably reduced the effect. Jie Huang and colleagues homed in on specific visual stimuli known to trigger migraines. These patterns, high contrast stripes or ‘gratings,’ can give the illusion of shape, colour and movement. These not only trigger migraines but also may cause seizures in those with photosensitive epilepsy.” Study Finds That Tinted Specs Offer Migraine ReliefYeah.. man, do I know about this. Which is why I turned to the Irlens Institute… because my persistent migraine auras cause some serious distortions which give the illusion of movement, where there is none, lines warp and shift, objects contort, my eyes do some wonky things as they try to compensate or focus.“Before the brain imaging took place, participants were tested and prescribed precision ophthalmic tints (POTs) with an Intuitive Colorimeter. Previous studies have suggested that some 42% of migraine with aura sufferers saw their migraine frequency halved on days when they wore POTs. The researchers used the colorimeter to illuminate text with coloured light, manipulating hue and saturation at constant luminance. For each test participant this gave an optimal hue and saturation (chromaticity) of light that led to the greatest comfort, reducing perceptual distortion. The test subjects then viewed stressful striped patterns illuminated with their optimal coloured light settings to screen for efficacy. The researchers used these readings to generate both effective POTs for each migraine sufferer and also two other pairs of grey and coloured lenses with slightly different properties as controls. 11 patients who frequently suffered from migraine enrolled in the fMRI study. Each patient was paired with a migraine-free control, who was also tested with that patient’s three sets of lenses.”How awesome is that? With the Irlens diagnostic they get you to go through a bunch of different color filters as well to see which works best for your eyes. So I would recommend anyone with who might benefit from this to go to them because how else are you to determine the right color filter? “Once in the fMRI machine, the researchers exposed subjects to a range of striped patterns – these had varying likelihood of triggering distortion and discomfort. This study aimed to investigate the effect of the POTs on the cortical activation induced by the stressful pattern in each of the visual areas of the brain. Although patients reported some relief using all of the lenses (by around 40%), the POT lenses had a significant effect when viewing the stressful stripes (70% discomfort reduction). Both control and migraine patients responded similarly to the non-stressful stripe patterns, and in these cases all three lenses made no difference to the result. The POTs specifically suppressed cortical activation for migraine sufferers in visual area V2 of the occipital cortex of the brain, and this POT-suppressed cortical activation was also extended to the other extra-striate visual areas V3, V3A, and V4

“The reduced cortical activation in V2 by the POTs may have been responsible for the POT-induced suppression of the illusions and distortions, considering that V2 neurons but not V1 neurons in macaque monkeys respond to illusory contour stimuli,” Huang suggests.

The cause of these responses to specific visual stimuli is likely to differ from the photophobia (light sensitivity) migraine sufferers often report during an attack.”

I am really glad they are looking at research for this. I will tell you when it comes to migraine auras and the issues involved with vision like this… not much can be done about it when preventatives not working, you might have persistent migraine auras, and the fact that even when you do not have a migraine you are still susceptible to this phenomena and it might be triggering migraines. It is a warpy world out there for me and neuros don’t much care about that but I sure do which is why I looked into the Irlens institute and I will say when I went for the first test… they ranked me on the severe side for distortions… I will be going for the diagnostic for glasses as soon as can afford it and honestly think it is the only thing that will help with my vision, given I am not on any preventatives that work and even if they do work for migraines it doesn’t mean they will have any affect on the persistent migraine auras.

Now in regards to photosensitivity and florescent lights… nasty ass triggers in themselves people find Thermaspecs to be useful or that tint for glasses or rose tinted glasses like I use.

Just because disclaimer

This blog is not a substitute for medical advice and serves only to help you to be your own advocate and to make migraine disease more visible and understood. Please do not claim the information on this page as your own, and acknowledge the writer accordingly.

Nothing I say is medical advice or treatment or is a substitute for medical advice or treatment. Seek out medical advice to learn more about your migraines, chronic illness, asthma, and/or any other random medical condition I have or talk about.